Welcome to the tutorial on the mechanics of good writing. This tutorial is designed to help a student develop confidence in some of the more elementary skills of writing. As these skills are learned and practiced, the process of writing becomes increasingly more creative and enjoyable.
Writing papers numbers among the most stressful experiences in university and graduate education. Typically a large percentage of your class grade relies on an ability to communicate effectively through writing. “Paper anxiety” is frequently due to a difficulty in getting your mind around what’s involved in actually writing a good paper. The tutorials in this CD suite correspond to the “four layers” of good writing: style, mechanics, organization, and content. Style refers to the format and presentation of the paper; mechanics include essential skills of spelling, grammar, and punctuation; organization is about the structure and flow of thought in the paper; and content is another name for the substance of your writing, as well as the methods used to gather your information.
In this tutorial on mechanics, we will discuss four skill areas essential to good writing: distinguishing between words that sound alike, understanding the modes of syntax, creating effective flow in writing, and using punctuations properly.
Words that sound alike can “sneak” into your writing and completely undermine your ability to communicate effectively. In this slide and the next, you will find five groups of sound-alike words that are common culprits. Spend some time with each until you are confident in knowing how they are different and when one or the other should be used.
Two additional pairs of words that often get confused or used improperly are “good” versus “well,” and “that” versus “which.” It may help to remember that “good” attaches to nouns and things, whereas “well” attaches to verbs and actions.
Keeping straight on the proper usage of “that” and “which” is a bit trickier. Basically, here’s the rule: that clauses are essential to the meaning of the sentence; which clauses merely add further information.
The two sentences shown here are very similar in content. In the first example, “matters most” is essential to the overall meaning of the sentence; if you took it away, the sentence would simply fall apart. In the second example, “the stat relating to the outcome” is additional information; the entire clause could be removed and the essential meaning remains – “The score … matters most.”
When it comes to syntax, which refers to the way words are put together, there are three important rules to keep in mind as you write.
(1) Make sure your subject and verb numbers agree.
In this example, “person” is the singular subject, whereas “they” is plural; to make it right, “they” must be changed to “he or she” and the verb needs to match.
(2) Pick a tense to write in, and stay with it.
Here Johnson “has been” having a good season, and Mackey “is” having a good season; the difference may sound slight, but it matters. A simple change puts both Johnson and Mackey in the same frame of time.
(3) Use the active rather than the passive voice.
The passive voice is weaker than the active voice, since it puts the subject (in this example, Mackey) farther down the word-string and more distant from the verb, which is the energy-point in the sentence. Changing to the active voice gives the subject more power, as well as makes the sentence easier to understand.
Word order and rhythm are almost subliminal in their effect, but they can easily make the difference between a paper that flows well and one that only “bumps along.” Sometimes also, a paper that has been written heedless of word order and rhythm can contain all the necessary words but be difficult for the reader to follow and understand.
Take a look at the first line in each pair, then notice how rephrasing it with an ear for rhythm actually helps the new sentence read more smoothly.
Punctuation in and around quotation marks often gives student-writers some trouble. Generally, the rules concerning punctuating quoted phrases are easy to understand.
Take a look at this slide illustrating some different arrangements of the same original quotation. Notice especially the position of the quotation marks relative to other punctuation in each sentence.
This last one frequently causes problems: A quoted phrase inside a quotation will be framed in single quotation marks, with the period afterwards and the closing double quotes following that.
Now that you have completed this tutorial on Writing Mechanics, you may be interested in the other writing tutorials available. Simply close this presentation and open a new tutorial from the Resources page.
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